Trimming attachment for sewing-machines



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- H. CASE.

TBIMMING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

No. 543,847. Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

wwvwom (No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

H. CASE. TBIMMING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MAOH/INES.

No. 543,847. Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

I W/l/ll/l/l/l/l/l/l/l/l/ll/l/Il/ll;

UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' HENRY CASE, or GLovERsvILLE, NEW YORK.

TRIMMING ATTACHMENT FOR- SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,847, dated August6, 189 5.

Application filed August 10, 1394- Serial No. 519,951- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY CASE, a citizen of the United States, residingat Gloversville,

in the county of Fulton and State of New York, haveinvented a certainnew and useful Improvement in Trimming Attachments for Sewing-Machines,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the class of trimming attachments forsewing-machines forming the subject of Letters Patent No. 495,020,granted to me April 11, 1893; and the improvements herein consist in,first, a rigid hoodbracket in which the cutter-shaft and gearing areinclosed; second, means for raising and lowering the cutter tocompensate for wear; third, a fastening for securely holding theattachment to the throat-plate or clothplate of the sewing-machine;fourth, a positively-rotated cutter-guard; fifth, a retainingspring toprevent reaction to the cutter, and, sixth, a sharpener for the cutteror knife by means of'which the said cutter may be reedged withoutremoving from the machine, each and all substantially as hereinafterparticularly set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the severalfigures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a topplan view. Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the hood-bracket partlybroken away and showing the sharpener in position to sharpen or grindthe cutter. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the opposite side of theattachment. Fig. 4 is abottom plan view. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevationtaken in the plane of line a a, Fig. 4, looking toward the left. Fig. 6is a sectional elevation taken in the plane of line b b, Fig. 4, lookingtoward the right. Fig. 7 is a top plan View of the throatplate andguard; and Fig. 8 is a cross-section thereof taken in the plane of line0 c, Fig. 7, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 9

is a sectional elevation, on an enlarged scale,

of the sharpening device.

As in the patent referred to, so here the object of the invention is toprovide an attachment applicable to various kinds of sewingmachines fortrimming the seams-of articles as they are'sewed, the primaryapplication being to machines for sewing kid and other skin or leathergloves.

The attachment is designed to be driven from the main or other shaft ofthe sewingmachine by suitable interposed mechanism,

,such as an arm carried by the attachment and a cam or toe or otherdevice on the shaft, the connection in any case being such that theattachment may be applied to and removed from the sewing-machine atpleasure without disturbing the mechanism of the sowing-n1achine proper.

1 may represent a portion of a cloth-plate of a sewing-machine, 2 thethroat-plate having the feed-dog slot 3, and 4 the main or driving shafthaving a cam 5. The hood-bracket 6 is composedof the top 7, sides 8 8,front 9, rear 10, and flange 11, so as to inclose the cuttershaft 12 andits gearing and protect these parts from dust, fibers, and trimmings.The top of the hood-bracket is extended forwardly at 13 and inserted inits rear is a removable sleeve 14 to provide bearings for thecuttershaft, said sleeve being held in place by a setscrew 15. Thecutter-shaft is provided with the rotary cutter or disk-knife 16, andsaid knife is held up to its guard 17 by a spring 18, which isinterposed between its main gear-wheel 19 and some portion of thehood-bracket-as, for example, the sleeve 14. The cutter-shaft isretracted from its guard by means of a cam 20 journaled in thehood-bracket and provided with an operating device 21, said cam being inthe form of a cylinder with a slabbed-off end 20, which acts against thegear-wheel 19 or its hub or other contiguous projection on thecutter-shaft. The mechanism for transmitting motion from the main shaftto the main gear-wheel19 andcutter-shaft is shown herein as comprising agear-wheel 22, arranged upon a stud or journal 23, which is secured inblock 24, the latter being supported by the bedplate of the machine. Aratchet 25 is attaohed to or formed upon the face of this gear-wheel 22,and is engaged by a pawl 26, carried by a swinging arm 27, also pivotedto the stud 23, and this pawl is held up to the ratchet by a spring 28fast on said arm. The arm 27 is provided with a roll 29 to be acted uponby the cam or other projection 5 of the main shaft, therebyintermittently to rotate the ratchet and its gear-wheel 22. Thegearwheel 22 meshes with the gear-wheel 19, and thereby there isimparted an intermittent retary motion to the cutter, such that thetrimming will be effected only as the stitching proceeds. Aretaining-spring 30 is secured to the block 24, and its free end pressesagainst the back of the gear-wheel 22, thereby to prevent reaction ofthe cutter-shaft. The block 24: is provided with a vertical hole 31 toreceive the post 32, which depends from the hood-bracket and has its endslabbed off and grooved to engage a plate or projection 33 on the blockto permit the securing and removal of the attachment, as in the patentreferred to. The cam 20, when rotated to compress the spring 18, carriesthe cutter-shaft rearwardly and throws the gear-wheels 19 and 22 cut ofmesh and permits the rotation of the hoodbracket upon its post withinthe block to dis engage said post from its detent 33, and thereby admitof the removal of the attachment from the sewing-machine.

The cutter-guard 17 is a positively-rotated disk, secured to a shaft 34,having a gearwheel 35, which meshes with a gear-wheel 36 on thecutter-shaft, and I prefer to use a smaller gear-wheel on theguard-shaft than its driving gear-wheel 86, so that the guard mayrevolve faster than the cutter and thereby remove the feather-edgethrown up on the face of the cutter by the action of the sharpenerpresently described. The guard-shaft 34: is mounted in a plate 37,dovetailed or otherwise slid in the throat-plate at right angles to thefeed-dog slot and having an ear or plate 3Slapping over upon the top ofthe throat-plate and provided with a slot 39 and adjustingscrew .0,tapped into the throatplate, whereby the guard may be adjusted in thedirection of the length of its shaftthat is to say, toward and from theneedle-hole 41, in accordance with the distance the article is to betrimmed from its seam or line of stitching, the cutter-shaft beingcorrespondingly adjusted by the yielding of its spring 18 under thepressure of the guard upon the cutter.

The hood-bracket is provided with one or more (I prefer two) screws 42,which bear upon the throat-plate and cloth-plate or either, in order toset the said hood high orlow, as the diameter of the cutter and thecharacter of the work may require.

43 is a thumb-screw, also applied to the hood-bracket and tapped into ascrew-hole 43* in the throat-plate or cloth-plate to hold positively andrigidly the attachment to its place at front. This thumb-screw passesfreely through the hood-bracket, while the screws 42 are tapped into thehood-bracket.

In order to provide for sharpening the out ter without the necessity ofremoving the cutter and its shaft, I provide a sharpening device, which,in the instance herein shown, consists of an oil-stone or emery-wheel44, mounted upon a vertical shaft 45. This shaft 45 has bearings in ahead 46, and this head is provided with a lateral plate 47, resting uponthe top of the hood'bracket and secured to said hood-bracket movably bymeans of a screw 48 passed through a slot 4-9 into the top of thehood-bracket, the other end of said plate being slotted at 50 to engagea guide-pin 51 projecting upwardly from the top of the hood-bracket. Inthe construction shown the shaft 45 is screw-threaded, and thisscrewthreaded portion engages the screw-threaded hub of a bevelgear-wheel 52, which is arranged within the head 46. This head 46 alsohas a bearing 53 for one end of shaft 5%, on which is a beveledgear-Wheel 55,which meshes with the bevel gear-wheel 52, and the otherend of said shaft has a bearing in a tubular projection 56 on the top ofthe hood-bracket, the said shaft extending into the casing 57, extendingout from one side of the hoodbracket and opening into the hood-bracket,and on this end of the said shaft is affixed a gear-wheel 58, which isadapted to be engaged with agear-wheel 59, fast on the cutter-shaft.Between the bearing 53 and the tubular projection from the hood-bracketthe shaft 54 is exposed and is encircled by a coiled spring 65, whichnormally tends to throw the head outwardly toward the cutter. AnL-shaped push-rod 60 is arranged in the tubular projection alongside ofand parallel with the shaft therein, so as to bear against itsgear-wheel 58, and the base 61 of this rod projects through an L-shapedslot 62 in the said tubular projection in such manner that when the saidpush-rodis moved toward the gear-wheel and its base comes into alignmentwith the vertical portion 63 of the L-shaped slot 62 and is pushed intothe said vertical portion the said shaft, with its attached head andemery-wheel, will be withdrawn from the cutter, and so when the saidbase 61 is lifted out of the vertical portion of the L-shaped slot thespring encircling the said shaft will force the head out bearing theemery-wheel and cause said emery-wheel to come in contact with thecutter, thereby grinding or sharpening the cutter as it is revolved.

ICC

ITO

I have shown the cutter-shaft and the sharpening-shaft arranged at rightangles to each other, since when the cutter and the emerywheel occupythese relative positions the best results will be obtained, but it iswithin my invention to arrange the grinder parallel with the cutter.

It will be observed that when the emerywheel is withdrawn from thecutter its gearwheel is thrown out of mesh with the gearwheel on thecutter-shaft.

I have thus described the best mode in which I have contemplatedapplying the principle of my invention, but I do notwish to beunderstood as limiting my invention to the details of construction,excepting as hereinafter'specifically claimed.

- What I claim is 1. A rotary cutter, a cutter shaft and means to rotateit, combined with a cutter guard, a rigid hood-bracket in which thecutter shaftis arranged, a post supporting the hood-bracket and cuttershaft, and a bearing applicable to I in which said shaft is arranged andsupported,

and means whereby the said hood-bracket may be detachably connected to asewing machine bed or cloth plate at one end and an adjusting mediumapplied to the other end of the said hood-bracket to adjust it so as tosupport the cutter at the proper height relative to the throat plate,substantially as described.

3. In atrimming attachment for sewing machines, a rotary cutter, a shafttherefor and means to support and drive the said shaft, combined with arotary sharpener for such cutter, a cutter guard and gear wheels ofdifferent diameters interposed between said guard and the cutter shaftwhereby the said guard is positively rotated, and the fin or featherraised on the cutter by the sharpener is removed, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a trimming attachment for sewing machines, the combination with arotary cutter, a cutter-shaft, means to support and drive the saidcutter shaft, and a rotary sharpener for such cutter, of a cutter-guard,a shaft upon which it is mounted, a gear wheel on the cutter-shaft and asmaller gear wheel on the guard shaft in mesh with the said gear wheelon the cutter shaft to drive the cutter guard at a greater speed thanthe cutter and thereby remove the fin or feather from the cutter whichis raised by the sharpener, substan .tially as and for the purposedescribed.

5. A seam trimming attachment for sewing machines comprising a rotarycutter, a shaft therefor, a hood-bracket in which said shaft issupported and having a detachable pivotal connection with the bed orcloth plate of a sewing machine, a driven gear wheel on said shaft, adriving gear wheel, a pawl and ratchet mechanism connected with the saiddriving gear wheel,ar1d a retaining spring 30 applied to said drivingwheel, and means to impart mo tion to said driving wheels pawl andratchet mechanism, substantially as described.

6. In a trimming attachment for sewing machines, the combination of arotary cutter, a shaft therefor, means to support and drive such shaft,a rotary sharpening device, such as an emery wheel or oil stone, a10ngitudinally slidable shaft to carry and drive said sharpening device,said shaft being driven from the cutter shaft, a spring to hold thesharpening device in contact with the cutter and means to retract theslidable shaft to throw out of contact the sharpening device and cutterand so retain positively the sharpening device out of contact,substantially as described.

7. In a trimming attachment for sewing machines, the combination of arotary cutter, a shaft therefor, means to support and drive the saidshaft, a rotary sharpening device such as an emery wheel or oil stone, amovable head in which the said sharpening device is supported, a shaftand interposed gearing for rotating the said sharpening device, and gearwheels connecting the said shaft and the cutter shaft to transmit motionfrom the latter to the former, substantially as described. I

8. In a trimming attachment for sewing machines, a rotary cutter, ashaft, a hood-bracket in which said shaft is supported and means todrive,said shaft, a movable head having a laterally extended platemovably supported upon the said hood-bracket, a sharpening devicearranged within said head, a sliding shaft united with said head, aspring normally projecting the said head and its sharpening devicetoward the cutter, a push rod and means to lock it to retract said headfrom the cutter, and means to drive the sliding shaft and to communicateits motion to the sharpening device, substantially as described.

9. In a trimming attachment for sewing machines, a cutter, a cuttershaft, a support for the latter, means to drive the said cutter shaft, aslidable shaft provided "with a gear wheel which is adapted to be movedinto and'out of mesh with a driving gear wheel on the cutter shaft, anda sharpening device carried on one end of the slidable shaft and adaptedto be rotated by said slidable shaft, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 8th day of August,A. D. 189i.

HENRY CASE. \Vitnesses:

D. O. CHRISTIAN, WM. S. CAssEDY.

